National and Big Eight recap – 1982 Season (Cal/Stanford band game)

1982 Season Archive

— National and Big Eight recap – 1982 — Penn State, which had failed to win titles in undefeated seasons in prior years, won its first national championship in 1982 with an 11-1 campaign. Under long time head coach Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions fell only once during the regular season, losing to No. 4 Alabama 42-21 in September. Recovering from the early stinging defeat, Penn State could not be bested the rest of the season, defeating previously unbeaten Georgia and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker 27-23 in the …

— November 20 – at Kansas State Kansas State 33, Colorado 10 — Fresh from their largest margin of victory since 1978, a 28-3 decision over Kansas, the Buffs had a small degree of momentum going into the season finale against Kansas State in Manhattan. The Wildcats, for their part, despite a 5-4-1 overall record, were on a two-game losing streak. Kansas State needed a win over Colorado to finish with a winning season, and, with a little help, earn the first bowl bid in the school’s history. The game was …

— November 13th – Boulder Colorado 28, Kansas 3 — In Colorado’s seventh home game of the year, the Buffs finally put things together. On the game’s second play from scrimmage, Colorado quarterback Steve Vogel, having earned the start based on his second half efforts against Missouri, tossed a short screen pass to halfback Richard Johnson. Some 77 yards later, the Buffs had a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the contest. “It’s fair to say that play set the tone for the …

— November 6 – at Missouri Missouri 35, Colorado 14 — Colorado head coach Bill McCartney marked his own homecoming of sorts in traveling to Columbia to face the Tigers for the first time as the Buffs head coach. Missouri did not exactly make Coach Mac feel welcome, however, running over the Buffs in a 35-14 rout that was worse than the final score indicated. The defense that had kept Colorado in earlier contests did not come to play against a Missouri squad that had won only one of …

— October 30th – Boulder No. 17 Oklahoma 45, Colorado 10 — At 1-5-1, the Buffs were not likely to pose much of a threat to the 5-2 Sooners. As the game unfolded, the Oklahoma game became a representation of the 1982 season in a nutshell: a great deal of heart; a stubborn defense; and an eventual submission to a more talented foe. Considering that the last two games with Oklahoma had left Colorado on the short end of 82-42 and 49-0 scores, the fact that the score at …

— October 23 – Boulder Iowa State 31, Colorado 14 — The Iowa State Cyclones came to Boulder with a better overall record than the Buffs (3-2-1 to Colorado’s 1-4-1), but both teams sported identical 0-1-1 conference records. In fact, the Big Eight Conference standings heading into the third weekend of the season were somewhat bizarre. Nebraska and Oklahoma were both 2-0, and this was to be expected. After that, third place in the league was shared by Oklahoma State and Missouri, with 0-0-2 marks. The remaining four teams …

— October 16 – at Oklahoma State Colorado 25, Oklahoma State 25 — It is hard to imagine that anyone would have a revenge factor in playing the Buffs in the early 1980’s, but that is what the Oklahoma State Cowboys were playing for in 1982. Colorado had come from behind for an improbable, last second 11-10 win in 1981 in Boulder. Now it was Oklahoma State’s turn to right the wrong. Everyone else was getting healthy playing the powder-blue Buffs, and the homecoming crowd …

— October 9th – Boulder No. 7 Nebraska 40, Colorado 14 — Many times, the numbers say it all. 1980: Nebraska 45; Colorado 7. 1981: Nebraska 59; Colorado 0. The last two lopsided losses to the Cornhuskers were only the most recent. In the series, the totals were intimidating. Fourteen straight Nebraska wins overall vs. Colorado. No wins for the Buffs against the Cornhuskers in Boulder since 1960. Nebraska’s record coming into the 1982 game: 3-1, ranked seventh in the nation. Colorado’s record: 1-3 and going …

— October 2nd – Boulder No. 9 UCLA 34, Colorado 6 — For Bruin fans, there was little reason to believe that UCLA’s first-ever visit to Boulder would be anything but a pleasant one. Colorado did little to discredit its role as compliant host, falling 34-6 to the 9th-ranked Bruins. UCLA came into the game 3-0, fresh off of two road wins against Big 10 teams. In the weeks leading up to UCLA’s trip to Boulder, UCLA had beaten back a red sea of Wisconsin fans at Madison, going …

— September 25th – Boulder Wyoming 24, Colorado 10 — While Colorado and its neighbor 100 miles to the north hadn’t played since 1975, there seemed little reason for the Buff faithful to be concerned about continuing the domination Colorado had over the Wyoming Cowboys from the Western Athletic Conference. After all, a Colorado football team hadn’t lost to Wyoming since 1935, with an overall record of 21-1-1 against the Cowboys. But this was 1982, and there were no certain wins. Colorado had its chances, as Wyoming turned the ball …

— September 18th – at Spokane Colorado 12, Washington State 0 — Colorado shut out an opponent for the first time since 1977, and won on the road for the first time in two years, defeating Washington State 12-0 in Spokane. It did not make up for the 14-10 “loss snatched from the jaws of victory” that the Buffs had endured the year before against Washington State, but it did give head coach Bill McCartney his first victory as a collegiate head coach, and squared his record as the …

— September 11th – Boulder California 31, Colorado 17 — There was renewed optimism as the Colorado football program opened the 1982 season with a new head coach. Gone was Chuck Fairbanks, who, with his 7-26 record, had left for the USFL. In his place was the unknown Bill McCartney. While there was renewed optimism, it would take wins to put fans back in the stands. Only 35,103 showed up for the opener in the rain against the California Golden Bears, coached by former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp. Kapp …